WWE has announced the names of the new class via their official website and Rachael Ellering is one of the names that is on the list. A frequent name on the independent wrestling scene, WWE fans may recognize Ellering from her several appearances under their developmental brand, NXT.

Ellering most notably participated in WWE’s Mae Young Classic event in 2017. This event is a tournament that housed 32 female competitors from around the world. Participating under the name, Rachael Evers, Ellering defeated her opponent in round one. Her momentum was halted in round two as she was defeated by former NXT star Abbey Laith. She subsequently participated in the second Mae Young Classic tournament that took place in 2018, where she was eliminated in the first round.

Even though Ellering has made a name for herself on the independent circuit, her last name is already very well known in WWE. Her father is Paul Ellering who is a WWE 2011 Hall of Famer. He was inducted due to his management of the Road Warriors during their time in the company. He was also a prior wrestler himself. He most recently was a manager for the current tag team, Authors of Pain.

As news spread to current WWE/NXT wrestlers that the new class started, many of them took to their social media to congratulate them. Ellering was congratulated by a current female NXT superstar Taynara Conti who posted her positive reaction to her Twitter welcoming her former fellow Mae Young Classic participant.

Other than Conti, Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix also provides joy to see Ellering start her new journey. Phoenix, who makes sporadic appearances as a guest commentator on pay-per-views, is a former three-time WWE Women’s Champion. She was inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2017, which makes her the fastest inductee after retirement.

According to Fightful, several different countries are being represented. Elliot Sexton and Jonah Rock hail from Australia. Canada is also represented by the tag team of Scott Parker and Shane Matthews. WWE continues to also branch out to other sports by obtaining two college football players, Omari Palmer and Ricardo Miller.

WWE

They were also able to obtain a few wrestlers from both the Ring of Honor and IMPACT Wrestling organizations. From Ring of Honor, they obtained Karen Q and ACH. Karen Q. is known to WWE fans as a participant in the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament, but did not compete against Ellering. As far as previous talent from IMPACT, Samuel Shaw is included as well as former IMPACT Wrestling Tag Team and X Division Champion Trevor Lee.